JERUSALEM, Feb 18 (AFP) - Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres lent his backing Friday to an offer by a top UAE official and property magnate to buy up Gaza settlement homes after Israel pulls out its troops and settlers later this year.
UAE billionaire Mohammad Al-Abbar held talks with Peres after briefly meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the first publicly reported such encounters between officials from the two countries which have no diplomatic relations.
Al-Abbar, the chairman of Emaar Properties and a director of the Dubai government's Department of Economic Development, proposed buying up houses that will be left empty when Israel uproots 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip later this year.
"Israel wants to preserve in their entirety the (settlement) infrastructure and is looking for a solution for (individual) houses," Peres said after meeting Abbar.
However, an Israeli spokesman said on Thursday that the government was still planning to demolish the settlement homes after the pullout.
02/18/2005 14:40 GMT - AFP